In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a
permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal
policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

>From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a
permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal
policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

>From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

Was that the Romans by chance?????????????? They got lazy & fell from within.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."

Was that the Romans by chance?????????????? They got lazy & fell from within.

No mate, it was Athens in Greece. They had their Golden Age the same as most other civilisations, but it eventually collapsed from within. The Romans lasted longer, but they eventually fell to.
But yes, the reasons for that are quite accurately written in my previous post.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."

Did either of us claim the USA was a Democracy? I just checked our previous posts and saw no mention of the USA being a democracy in any of them.

On the other hand the current POTUS does think we live in a democracy and that may give some credibility to our quotes above.

Have a good one mate.

Well blue old mate. Here's some facts.
The only country mentioned in my post was Greece. There was no mention at all about the USA or any other country for that matter. Perhaps our "Fly On The Wall" believes I am having a shot at the tiny little world she exists in.

Secondly, the post made no mention of republics, it was purely and simply a quote written about a democracy. Altho, if our fly on the wall knew anything else other than where Paul Revere bought his horse, then perhaps she would understand the truth in that post regarding rise and fall of nations.

Thirdly, no one knows WHO wrote that quote. Just because someone at Snopes says it wasn't Tytler means nothing to me. That's HIS opinion. My opinion is that Tytler did write it, and Tytler was VERY accurate. It's not the quote that was questioned by Snopes, it was who wrote the quote.

So if our fly on the wall believes Snopes, then so be it. But we will allow her to tell us WHO wrote the quote.... I mean....she knows everything...right ???